


Take My Hand, Take My Whole Life Too

by FantasyBasket



Series: In Jeopardy [2]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Charles Xavier has a Ph.D in Adorable, Charles is an actual Disney Princess, Erik is a Sweetheart, In-Universe RPF, Loki Does What He Wants, M/M, Mutual Pining, Oblivious Charles, Science Bros, Shower Sex, Tony Stark Has A Heart, True Love's Kiss, love at first mind-meld
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-20
Updated: 2016-11-29
Packaged: 2018-07-25 15:43:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7538509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FantasyBasket/pseuds/FantasyBasket
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Enchantress decides to turn NYC into a wintry, fairy tale land.  Soon everybody decides that Magneto's kiss can wake up Professor X.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. i thought that i was too old for fairy tales

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so this is going to be a mishmash of the X-Men movies, the MCU, and some stuff from the comics. 
> 
> Also, SHIELD and co. have been cutting Magneto slack lately since A, he was right about not being able to trust the government, B, he’s really useful to have in a fight against HYDRA, and C, Raven is now more or less in charge of the Brotherhood as Erik’s semi-retired now.
> 
> First Class totally happened, DOFP mostly happened, and Apocalypse vaguely happened.
> 
> It’ll start around the same time the previous fic ended, which is early April 2016.

It was evening at Xavier’s Academy for Gifted Youngsters and several of the teachers were playing poker in the main kitchen. It was for relatively low stakes- various singularly wrapped candies. Part of the fun was that each of them had a different valuing system based off of their personal taste.

Professor X wheeled himself into the room only to blurt out, “I’m in love with Erik!”

Everybody else just sort of blinked and looked at each other in a ‘so what?’ way. Flailing a bit, the telepath repeated himself. Gently Kurt told him, “We heard you the first time and thank you for finally telling us. But we’ve all known that for a while.”

Now it was the Professor’s turn to look confused. “You knew?”

Bemused, they all nodded.

“And you didn’t tell me?” he asked disbelievingly.

Kitty raised her eyebrows. “Didn’t you know?”

“I figured it out about five minutes ago,” he admitted awkwardly.

Pushing up his glasses, Hank commented, “I figured it out back when we were DC and everybody knows how socially oblivious I am. How couldn’t you know?”

“Wait, back during the Sentinel fiasco?” The Professor tried to think back. “Is this about letting Erik go before the authorities could show up?”

“Ah, no, I’m talking about when the two of you went off to Russia.”

“That’s not funny, Hank.” The Professor got out some chocolate-covered orbs from the bag on his lap to eat as he made a face at the blue-furred mutant.

“He’s telling the truth,” affirmed Ororo. “It wasn’t exactly hard to figure out for any of us. Haven’t you ever Googled yourself or Lehnsherr? There’s a terrifying amount of real person fic about you two.”

“And that’s not even getting into the fan art,” shuddered Kitty.

“At least that means the spotlight isn’t on the rest of us,” reasoned Scott. Logan grunted in affirmation as he ripped open a packet of M&Ms.

Worriedly Professor X asked, “Does Erik know?”

“Um, know what precisely?” hedged Kitty.

“That I’m in love with him, what else? Oh, who I am kidding, even Hank apparently figured it out before me.”

Telepathically leaking his upset with himself and the world in general due to slipped control, the Professor wheeled himself away, calling out, “I’m going to bed and this conversation NEVER happened!”

“Well, that certainly explains why that year-long research trip in the Savage Land failed,” noted Ororo wearily. “Let alone all of our other efforts.”

“How exactly did the Professor miss that he was in love with his frenemy?” demanded Kitty. “Like Hank said, even he could see it within weeks of meeting them.”

Hank just nodded, his mouth full due to a Twix.

“For that matter, how is he still apparently oblivious to Magneto’s lovesick puppy act?” Kitty continued irritably. “Even Magneto is aware of his pining!”

Scott made a thoughtful noise. “Maybe being a telepath was- is- part of the Professor’s problem. He and Lehnsherr practically mind-melded when they first met, right?”

“I have heard that story far too many times, especially in those dark years between Cuba and the Sentinels,” groaned Hank, head-desking.

“Right, okay, so maybe it was literally love at first sight or rather love at first mind-meld for them. Clearly Lehnsherr at some point clued in since he knew by the eighties when I first met them but it took the Professor half a century to do so,” Scott theorized. “And that’s also why the Professor never realized the extent of Lehnsherr’s feelings for him- because love at first sight doesn’t happen in reality as far as he’s concerned.”

“You can shoot laser beams out of your eyes, I can walk through walks, Kurt can teleport and has a tail, Ororo controls the weather, Logan’s pure badassery, the Professor can read minds, and Magneto can give Toph a run for her money regarding metal-bending,” Kitty grumbled. “Reality is weird for us.”

“Yes, but fairy tale tropes are a whole another ball game,” said Scott. “So maybe the Professor just was happy that Lehnsherr’s opinion of him seemed to be a positive one given how it only deepened and never changed over time.”

“Very possible,” concurred Kurt. “But now what? What are we supposed to do with this information?”

“Send them to the Savage Land until they get a clue?” Ororo suggested dryly.

“They’d end up dead of old age first,” Hank refuted from where his head was practically buried in his arms. The younger mutants all had to make agreeing noises at that.

Their conservation was halted by Jean telepathically contacting the group from where she had been having dinner with Pepper and Natasha in the city: _The Enchantress is causing trouble in Brooklyn. The Hawkeyes, Daredevil, and Magneto need back-up._

Matchmaking briefly forgotten, the group bolted to prepare themselves for the fight. Well, Logan lingered long enough to raid Scott’s candy pile before following the others.


	2. a new world made of snow

As the snowfall grew thicker outside, Erik changed into one of his uniforms. Charles was endlessly amused by the fact that he had even had more than two uniforms; the X-Men made by with a yellow-and-indigo one for public missions and a blue-black one for covert ones. Whatever. At least this meant Erik had a white (with black highlights) uniform for snowy missions like this one was shaping up to be.

There was banging on his front door prior to Clint shouting, “Lehnsherr, come on! He’s back and needs to go down!”

Giving one last glance at his reply-less iPhone, Erik put on his helmet and unlatched/unlocked/opened the door from where he stood. Clint rolled his eyes before insisting, “Show off later, kick Loki’s ass NOW!”

Erik followed the younger man down the hallway to the elevator. As it headed down, Clint continued to fidget uneasily.

“Do you want to borrow my helmet for this mission? Unless you have head lice or something.”

“Thanks, Lehnsherr, but Loki just pokes people with his staff to control them. Your helmet wouldn’t be effective.”  
Clint’s shoulders slumped so Erik carefully patted the purple-clad man on the back. The blond looked askance at his outfit. “But can I ask why we’re not matching? Unless this is your snow gear or something?”

“The former,” Erik confirmed. “It helps me blend in. For that very reason I don’t wear it often.”

“Purple is the best for standing out and looking awesome,” Clint joked, but his fingers still tapped against his thighs.

A prepared Kate was waiting for them in the lobby, sipping her mocha. Both men were grateful she had sprung to get them each one as well to keep them warm as they headed out through the snowfall. With the slick weather, it wasn’t safe to go any way besides on foot. Nearly everybody had gotten inside by this point, giving the streets an eerie atmosphere.

But when the trio reached Loki’s location, they found him in battle with the Enchantress. Kate tilted her head for a moment before sniggering. Both men looked over at her; all three were spying on the magical fight from behind a parked van.

“Look at them! Both Asgardians, both wearing green even if in different shades, both psychotic and evil, and both powerful magic-users. The only major difference is that Loki is dark-haired and she’s blonde. I bet they only fight because they have too much in common!”

Clint joined Kate in her laughter but Erik just shifted impatiently. He told the duo, “We still need to take them out and get Brooklyn back to normal. It’s April, winter is over.”

“Winter is coming!” Clint and Kate chorused before falling into helpless laughter. Erik huffed, uneasy to see that he could in fact see his breath.

With the bright flash of a spell circle, the Enchantress caused Loki to disappear. Promptly both Clint and Kate went into Serious Superhero Mode ™ as there was now a single threat without any distraction from wreaking havoc on the city. Both notched arrows on their bows while Erik focused more on the surrounding metal and electromagnetic fields.

Raising her hands up the sky, the Enchantress began chanting a spell that increased the snowfall and expanded the clouds above. 

Clint tapped on one of his hearing aids. “She’s not speaking English- shouldn’t the Allspeak have kicked in for us to understand her?”

Kate shrugged and the two began to sign at each other, possibly working out a strategy, but Erik had picked up on somebody’s electromagnetic field on the other side of the plaza. Even through the dense snowfall he could see the bright red uniform, so he whispered, “Daredevil at eleven o’clock.”

Both Hawkeyes just gave him a Look; apparently they had noticed their fellow superhero before he had. So Erik just made a face at them as the Enchantress continued to cast her spell. Past experience told him that her finishing the spell wouldn’t lead to anything good, and he was starting to feel the chill even through his insulated uniform.

At a hand signal from the latter, Clint and Kate went into action. Apparently Tony had been convinced to restock Clint’s supply of exploding arrows if the ensuing blasts were any indication. Erik was largely on protection detail- he got chunks of metal between the three heroes and the Enchantress’ magical fire blasts. But the blonde continued to chant despite the attacks, her personal force field keeping out the heroes’ efforts to take her out.

Then, awfully, the Enchantress stopped and there was a huge wave of mystical energy. Erik dove into the nearest snowdrift despite logically knowing it wouldn’t do any good if there were to be any side-effects. When he poked his head up once the wave had passed, he couldn’t see any green through the snowfall.

“Clint? Kate? Daredevil?” he called out, futilely brushing snow off himself as he stood up.

“I’m over here,” came the gruff reply. “I think the Hawkeyes are just knocked out- I checked their pulses- but we need to get inside fast before we all get frostbite.”

Erik trudged his way over and had to do a double-take. Daredevil had apparently forgotten to mention that as a farewell gift the Enchantress had given the Hawkeyes a fashion makeover. Kate was now in a teal dress (woolen and long-sleeved, thankfully) while Clint was clad all in green with a mustard-y hued cap, complete with a red feather in it. At least they had both retained their archery gear, otherwise the Enchantress would have gone to the top of their Most Wanted list.

Daredevil wrapped an arm around Clint while Erik did the same to Kate. As much as he preferred not to admit to it, he knew he wasn’t as strong as he had been even half a decade ago due to age. At least he was reasonably certain he’d die before Charles, that was a comfort. In fact, most days he was still surprised at having lived as long as he had given the life he had led.

As he and the red-clad man moved away from the plaza, they could hear the nearby whir of an engine but couldn’t make out any vehicle in the grey skies. 

Kurt teleported next to them, clad in the yellow-and-indigo X-uniform. “Come on, we best head over to Avengers Tower. The Enchantress has begun a second spell in Manhattan, I’m afraid. It looks like she decided to take over and expand on whatever Loki’s plan was.”

“Aw, snow, no,” groaned Clint before he slumped against Daredevil again. This caused his new hat to fall off; Erik was surprised it had stayed on as long as it had given the circumstances.

Kurt took hold of both Daredevil and Erik. Next thing Erik knew, they were on the ‘mission’ level of the tower. Thankfully the blue-skinned mutant had teleported them to the infirmary where Helen Cho was on standby. While she and her underlings took care of the Hawkeyes, the trio made their way to the briefing room. The wall of windows showcased the blizzard beyond, while the large table was already filling up.

Tony and Steve were snapping at each other (nothing new there), Bruce was tapping a pen anxiously against his mug of tea, Thor had his arms crossed and a rare frown on his face, Carol was looking over some files with Rhodey, and an expressionless Natasha was making her way towards them.

“They’re both fine,” Daredevil assured the redhead. Erik would bet his helmet that the Hell’s Kitchen vigilante had some kind of edge on sensing emotions even if Charles kept insisting the other man wasn’t a mutant. There were other options, after all.

“I know Kate would be, I’m asking about Clint,” she retorted, but her posture relaxed regardless.

“No frostbite, just unconscious,” Kurt confirmed.

Natasha glared at Daredevil and Erik, asking, “And why aren’t you two?”

“I jumped into a snowdrift?” Erik tried.

“I don’t know,” Daredevil admitted. “I was basically the same distance from the Enchantress as them. Like the Hawkeyes, I don’t have powers so that can’t be it.”

Carol looked at her iPhone. “Jessica has just sent me a blurry image of the Enchantress showing up in Staten Island. The ensuing text says she’s planning to go in with Photon and Miss Marvel, but if Magneto couldn’t stop her…”

Yawning, Erik glanced at the clock. “To be fair, at this stage in my life I’m usually in bed by now. I’ve never had much luck against magic-users in any case.”

“Besides, you were on defense, keeping me and the Hawkeyes from getting blasted,” Daredevil said to Erik but revealing to the others because he was sneaky like that. Well, except to the still squabbling Steve and Tony who were oblivious to everybody else in the room. Near as Erik could figure, they were debating on whether to focus on making sure the civilians were okay (Tony) or focus on taking out the Enchantress and her spells’ effects before doing that (Steve).

Rhodey rubbed at his temples. “Guys, maybe we ought to figure out what the Enchantress’ plan is before we come up with one?”

Steve blinked in bewilderment but Tony nodded in grudging agreement. At this point Daredevil and Erik sat themselves down at the shiny oblong table.

“I fear she is putting a wicked scheme into motion,” Thor informed the others. They all had to restrain themselves from doing a variant on ‘well, duh’. The blond continued seriously, “She is wily and far more subtle than Loki. He would have simply created a snowstorm out of season to create chaos out of that alone. For Amora, this blizzard is only the beginning of her plot.”

“Yes, but what is her plot?” Natasha pressed.

Thor shrugged, seemingly at as much of a loss as the rest of them.

“Jess, now is not the time to send me Grumpy Cat memes,” groaned Carol as she apparently typed in that same message into her iPhone to send.

Kurt reentered the room, evidently having teleported out at some point, followed by several other X-Men. Erik waved awkwardly at them and was a bit confused when they were even more awkward than usual in waving back. There was the usual shuffle of deciding who got to sit next to who as the mutants took over a good third of the table.

“Spidey just texted me that she’s now in Queens,” Tony informed the others, refocusing Erik to why they were all present.

“All that’s left is what, the Bronx? Why is she casting a spell in each borough?” Carol wondered. “I mean, beyond wanting to affect the whole metropolis. Why turn New York City into a winter wonderland, so to speak?”

“And why did she have to start with Brooklyn?” grumbled Steve.

“Maybe she saw _Frozen_?” muttered Bruce. When everybody looked at him, he defended himself, “What? It’s not impossible. Remember that time AIM tried to figure out how to turn Tony into a frog?”

Rhodey snorted at the memory. “He had to practically live in the pool for a month until Strange figured out how to fix things.”

Tony crossed his arms and sulked over his friends’ amusement.

“Actually, that’s not a bad idea,” commented Carol.

“What- turning me into a frog?!”

“No,” scoffed the blonde. “Contacting Strange- he is the Sorcerer Supreme after all. Maybe he’ll be able to tell what the Enchantress is up to.”

“Do any of us have his number, though?” asked Kitty. Everybody looked amongst themselves, each trying to see if someone else had it.

After a few minutes Bruce admitted, “I do. I got it just in case- I’m supposed to be the only green Avenger.”

Tony just stuck his tongue out at his science bro.

Ororo looked at her iPhone. “The Fantastic Four are trying to fight the Enchantress off in the Bronx now.”

“Trying being the key word there,” Rhodey snorted.

“Play nice,” sighed Steve. “They’re upstanding citizens, heroes, and scientists.”

“Reed’s a jerk,” chorused Tony and Bruce. Steve gave them a disapproving look that Bruce ignored as he got out his flip phone while Tony opted to start another squabble with the blond.

Several minutes and a couple of yawns later, Erik stood up. “Look, if need be I’ll stay in one of the guest rooms but it’s past ten now. I doubt any of us will be able to do much until morning anyway.”

“I’m just getting his voicemail,” admitted Bruce. “Strange might also already be in bed, or just lost in a tome in his library.”

He tilted his head pensively. “Hopefully not literally…”

Ororo read a message off her iPhone before summarizing to the group, “Sue says that the Enchantress vanished after finishing her spell. So whatever she’s gotten snowballing, it’s too late to stop.”

Erik made a face before leaving the room, the younger people debating amongst themselves on what to do next. He took a flight of stairs down to the guest level where Friday directed him to an empty suite. It wasn’t anything fancy by Stark standards- a central room with a kitchenette, a full bathroom, and a bedroom with a queen-sized pre-made bed. Putting the suite into privacy mode, Erik grabbed the obligatory red and gold striped pajamas before taking a quick shower.

At least the Tower’s technology meant the temperature wasn’t chilly. But Erik still wrapped himself up in all the available blankets… just in case.


	3. and the only thing i longed for was a sign to prove you felt the same

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As you might have noticed by now, there are a lot of different song lyrics being used. Let's credit luninosity for that.

“Excuse me, Mister Lehnsherr?”

Blearily Erik poked his head out of his blanket cocoon. “Friday? Is that you?”

“Yes. It is currently seven oh nine AM. Past visits have indicated you prefer to be up before seven, but under the circumstances I felt you needed a bit more sleep. On the Avengers’ communal level there is now a continental breakfast slash war council occurring, amongst them sir, Doctor Banner, Miss Romanoff, and Captain Rogers.”

“I didn’t think Stark ever woke up this early,” Erik commented as he untangled himself out of the blankets. Despite being an AI, Friday then managed a meaningful silence. Erik amended, “Unless he never went to bed in the first place, that is.”

“Knowing your light sleeping habits, your outfit was placed on your doorstep, so to speak.”

“Thank you, Friday.” Erik padded over to the door; and indeed on the hallway-facing doorknob a clothes bag had been hung while there was a shoebox at his bare feet. He had to admit, Stark treated his allies well thanks to his billions. But Erik also suspected Stark was trying to bribe him personally into never damaging any of his suits (not that he would; Charles would be displeased if he did).

After a morning shower he changed into his new clothes- besides the purple turtleneck, everything was in black. The boots would probably take some getting used to, but at least he didn’t have to wear his still-damp white ones for the time being.

This time he opted for an elevator. The communal level also had a window-wall, whereas Erik’s suite had been an interior one. So now he could see the changes caused by the Enchantress’ spell-casting. For starters, almost everything was still covered in snow and ice. What was new were the multiple icy castles whose towers reached towards the cloud-coated sky. If he squinted, Erik thought he could make out icy cottages far below.

“It’s truly a winter wonderland,” snarked Clint, now in a purple sweatshirt and yoga pants as well as Pikachu slippers. The archer was sitting on a counter as he snacked on Reese’s Puffs straight out of the box. In the sunken central area, three redheads (Jean, Natasha, and Pepper) were having a more balanced breakfast. Tony and Bruce were in a corner with Peter, clearly planning to do science. Sam and Steve were at the dining table, eating and talking.

“I’m glad you’re up; how’s Kate?”

“Katie-Kate’s fine, she just thinks it’s inhuman to wake up before eight. Not that I disagree, particularly as I’m only up because of supervillain shenanigans.”

Erik snorted as he grabbed a plate to make his own breakfast. There was an obscene amount of food available… or maybe not, considering the appetites of most superheroes. As he picked out his meal, he asked, “So, did I miss anything last night?”

“You missed these guys trying to keep those castles and such from forming. Pyro even showed up to try helping, but apparently nothing worked. They all might as well have gone to bed early too.”

“Most of the city is without power,” Steve called out. “SHIELD agents are working to ensure everybody’s staying warm and they’re working to clear the streets.”

“But the entire city is in a state of emergency,” Sam added.

“Just like two weeks ago when that wannabe dictator tried to conquer the city with pieced-together Doombots and AIM tech,” Erik recalled. “Oh, and remember how Doom lashed out after Valentine’s Day due to not having a sweetheart? And let’s not forget about that mess with Electro in January, the city went without power for nearly a week.”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s a good thing you’re off the supervillain list,” Jean chimed in before he could continue.

Erik blinked. “Wait, what? When did that happen? Is that why I wasn’t on _Jeopardy_ last night?”

“It’s not an official list or anything,” Natasha said. “But let’s face it- after Loki, after HYDRA, you’re no longer a major threat to humanity. Plus you’ve mellowed out in your old age.”

“I prefer to think I’ve just gotten smarter over time,” Erik replied grumpily as he poured himself some orange juice. “Besides, the X-Men’s reactions to me last night clearly indicate that they’re still wary of me at least.”

Jean choked on her coffee. “Um, according to Scott, that’s a separate issue.”

“Do I even want to know?”

“Um…”

Erik took a seat on the other end of the table from Sam and Steve. “Dropping that topic for now, where are the rest of Charles’ ducklings, Jean? For that matter, where are the other Avengers?”

“They’re out on patrol,” revealed Pepper. “Same with Daredevil and his friends from the Hell’s Kitchen area. Besides whatever the Enchantress is up to, it’s a good idea to ensure that the Maggia and such don’t take advantage of the situation.”

Erik just nodded his agreement, his mouth full of buttered sesame bagel.

Friday spoke up, saying, “Sir, War Machine and Captain Marvel are currently under attack by several snow monsters. While no request for assistance has been made yet, I suspect any would be welcome.”

“Okay, we’ll head on over. Let it be a surprise, though, Friday,” nodded Tony as he left the room, dragging an amused Bruce along by the sleeve of his shirt. Peter followed his mentors happily while Pepper just shook her head.

“Somebody has contacted Bobby, right? I didn’t see him last night and this seems like his sort of thing,” Erik commented.

“He’s out on patrol,” said Jean. “I’m still here mostly to serve as a central location as a telepath… and in case anything attacks Avengers Tower.”

“Is Charles still asleep then?”

When Jean nodded, Erik had to sigh. He had hoped he’d be able to sort out why Charles had stopped texting him so abruptly sooner rather than later. Once back at his place, he’d look over the messages again to see if there was anything in his that could have upset the telepath. Maybe he didn’t appreciate being teased about his love for Jane Austen novels… but in the past such teasing had only led to debates, not the silent treatment. In fact, Erik didn’t recall being particularly mocking last evening, only bemused.

Erik had known since 1962 he ought to be more than satisfied that Charles considered him his best friend despite Erik’s issues and actions. The one subject Erik wished he could have hope about the most was about Charles ever seeing him as more than a friend. 

Although at least their friendship had settled down once Erik clued into his ‘pigtail-pulling antics’ being more annoying than endearing back in the nineties. Not that he had stopped entirely as Charles’ scrunched-up upset face was adorable.

He had known right from the start that he was falling in love with one Professor Charles Francis Xavier. How could he not? He was brilliant, brave, kind and empathetic in a way Erik had never before experienced, and just as passionately determined as Erik himself. In Charles he had found an equal and his better half… which of course made Erik the dark half of the equation. Not that was a surprise or anything, particularly given Charles’ personality. And Erik would admit it didn’t hurt that Charles was utterly gorgeous.

For decades Erik had tried to conceal his love from Charles, because he knew there was no chance of it being returned. At this point Erik figured Charles had to be deliberately in denial or repressing the knowledge telepathically, because it wasn’t like Erik had been subtle over the decades even back when he was trying to hide his feelings. Though to be fair, past-Erik had thought he was being subtle.

Matters weren’t helped by the fact that the Internet seemed to think they’d make a cute couple; Erik had to do a lot of thinking on whether Charles’ lack of interest was in his head or if Charles’ interest was in theirs’ (Erik’s interest was not in question). In the end, Erik had to bitterly conclude he knew Charles better than the collective Internet. And besides, there was a whole shipping war going on between Stucky and Stony which was going to get a whole lot worse once the Winter Soldier’s identity was revealed to the public. The point was, the Internet couldn’t be trusted on this point.

“Lehnsherr?”

Sam Wilson’s voice gently broke into Erik’s moping. Erik realized he hadn’t even finished his bagel yet, let alone the rest of his breakfast.

“Yes?”

“We haven’t been able to contact Strange yet, but Nico Minoru is on her way over. She’s not the supreme whatever, but she’s still a powerful magic-user. Maybe she’ll be able to clue us in on what Amora has done and how to stop it.”

“Good idea.”

“Yeah, but she can’t just teleport to here, so could you come along with me to pick her up?” Sam requested. “I doubt my wings and guns will do much good against snow monsters. Even in a worst case scenario your metal-bending could buy us some time. We don’t want to risk Nico getting worn out before she’s even arrived.”

Erik blinked. “Couldn’t Kurt teleport her here? Wouldn’t that simplify things?”

Jean nodded, saying, “I told them that already.”

“We can’t use Nightcrawler as a taxi service,” Steve reasoned. “We can’t get too dependent on him- it’s not fair to him or to us.”

Sam rolled his eyes fondly at the blond.

“He doesn’t mind, especially when it’s a time-critical issue like this one,” Jean insisted. “Besides-”

Kurt and a young Asian woman dressed in black suddenly appeared in the room.

Smugly the redhead finished, “I already asked him.”

Sam barely managed to conceal his snickering while Steve buried his face in his palms. Erik wasn’t sure whether he ought to be amused by or disapproving of Jean pulling one over Captain America as he cut his latkes into bite-sized portions.

“I already did some preliminary spells back home; I couldn’t sleep due to the background mystical energy,” the woman who had to be Nico opened with. “It looks like the Enchantress got ahold of a copy of Grimm’s Fairy Tales and the Disney movie collection and decided to create a spell matrix using them as inspiration.”

Clint let out a low whistle. “That’s why Kate and I got a makeover- we were so close to her enacting the spell it altered our clothes. Robin Hood and Merida, both badass archers.”

“Does this mean talking animals?” worried Sam.

“Maybe, if the spell continues. Well, spells, to be precise,” Nico yawned before continuing, “The Enchantress did the same spell in all five boroughs and linked them together, exponentially increasing their power.”

Pepper frowned. “Is this one of those things where one thread can be easily cut but multiples ones woven together can’t be?”

“Basically,” Nico nodded. “Luckily there are plenty of ways to wear down the spells, including taking out some of the ‘cornerstones’ by completing the story.”

“Are we going to have to play matchmaker to save the day?” asked Sam incredulously.

“Well, that’s one option. Another is figuring out a way to get rid of the snow and ice structures.”

“Ororo can’t do anything about the clouds,” Jean sighed. “And everybody with fire powers tried to melt the castles to no effect.”

“Knowing Tony, he might try to blow them up next,” sighed Pepper, rubbing at a temple.

“Might?” chorused everybody else in the room. The inflection on the word varied on what exact relationship they had with the inventive superhero. Pepper just ignored them and sipped her tea.

For the next few hours, Nico led the council on figuring out how to break the Enchantress’ hold on New York City. The members switched out depending on who was on patrol at the time; mid-morning, Erik left to do one in part of Queens with Carol after switching back into his now dry white uniform. 

The metropolis had effectively shut down, with only a few Starbucks and the like open. There were indeed massive snow golems, but Erik could usually break them apart by tossing several cars at them. Carol’s own powers were also effective against them. And the few looters they encountered were easily intimidated by Magneto and Captain Marvel.

Afterwards, they went their separate ways: Carol to check on her cat and Erik to grab a few things from his place in case this lasted more than a few days. On the top of the list was his iPhone. Once in his apartment he saw that there was still no response from Charles, despite it nearly being noon at this point.

Erik went up his Messages until he saw Charles’ last text. The other man had gone on a rather smitten ramble about Mr. Darcy and Erik had pointed out in response that he wasn’t real. Maybe Erik ought to have been more sympathetic about Charles’ literary crush? Well, at least Charles didn’t have a crush on a real person.

He put some stuff in a duffle bag and headed back to Avengers Tower, having to take out the occasional snow monster on his way from Bed-Stuy. As he unpacked in his temporary quarters Erik asked Friday, “Is everybody still meeting in the kitchen area or are they in the briefing room?”

“Both, actually, given the quantity of superheroes coming in and out of the Tower. But currently Thor is arguing with the bulk of his teammates about listening to what his adoptive brother has to say on the communal floor. In the briefing room, Director Coulson is organizing the patrols alongside Agent May as superheroes come and go.”  
Erik processed this. “Loki is in the Tower?”

“I’m afraid so,” came the reply. “Down in the workshop, DUM-E has a fire extinguisher at the ready. While indubitably ineffective in case of danger, at least he’s not hiding under a table like You and Butterfingers were.”

“You snarky miss,” Erik commented admiringly as he exited his suite, not even bothering to take off his helmet. Sure, Clint said it’d be useless but it was worth a shot.

“If I could, I’d be blushing.”

In the communal area, Loki was indeed lounging on the couch. Thor was standing firmly a few feet away. Tony and Steve were in agreement for once, with Vision, Clint, Natasha, Wanda, Pietro, and Sam backing them up. At least no weapons were visible yet.

“Why is Loki here?” Erik demanded, leaning up against the doorway.

“I came to offer some advice,” the dark-haired Asgardian spoke up with a smirk, his hands casually crossed behind his head. “Not my fault if they don’t want to listen.”

“Why would you ever offer us useful advice?” snarled Clint, vibrating with rage.

“In this insistence, it’s by being actually helpful to you fools that I can cause the most mischief.”

Everybody else looked concerned by this.

Getting up, Loki stretched before continuing, “And besides, Amora hijacked my little snowstorm to create this huge mess that’ll only worsen the longer the spells last. It’s in your best interest to listen to me as well as mine.”

Natasha’s brow furrowed. “We don’t have to follow his advice…”

“Tasha!” came Clint’s scandalized response.

“I’m just saying, we need all the data we can get,” the redhead shrugged. “And from what he mentioned before, I suspect Loki’s advice will have us doing something that will noticeably weaken the spell but also permanently alter the status quo.”

With a chuckle, Loki tossed something to Natasha before teleporting away.

Confused, Steve asked, “That’s it?”

“He probably thinks Natasha’s smart enough to figure it out on her own,” Tony theorized. “And please, please tell me didn’t toss you a bomb of some sort.”

“No, it’s a fruit,” came the amused assurance.

While the Avengers studied the round object, Erik texted Charles: are you done being upset with me yet?

Jean entered the room, asking, “What did Loki want?”

“To give advice, apparently,” Wanda responded. “Instead, we got a fruit.”

“Is Charles up by now?” Erik asked. “It’s past noon.”

Jean ‘thought’ for a moment before her frown deepened. “No, he’s still asleep.”

“Could that be part of the spell?” Sam asked. “After all, things probably would go smoother if we had Professor X helping out.”

“True enough, and the school grounds are within the spells’ radius so it is possible,” Jean commented. “But that leaves the question of how to wake up the Professor.”

Natasha asked, “Doesn’t he love those chocolate-covered pomegranate chunks?”

“Yes, he was having some last evening according to his texts,” Erik confirmed.

After a minute of telepathic communication, Jean contributed, “And he apparently took some with him to bed according to Kitty.”

Natasha held up the round fruit. “Well, Loki gave me a pomegranate. That’s probably part of the clue- given his power, the Professor was a good choice to be one of the cornerstones for the Enchantress’ spell matrix.”

Tony raised his eyebrows as he looked at his iPhone. “According to Google, its name means ‘apple of many seeds’. Also according to Google, the Professor was super-cute back in the day.”

Erik just glowered at the younger man, not quite willing to express his opinion that Charles had never stopped being super-cute. Maybe he was now far less fluffy, but not less cute.

Bruce picked up on his science bro’s train of thought. “Right, fairy tale shenanigans are going on. Snow monsters, some people have burst into song, magical creatures have been spotted, plenty of castles to go around… and who knows what else.”

Jean face-palmed. “What you’re saying is that the Professor is Snow White.”

While Erik knew this was one hundred percent appropriate for Charles, he was starting to worry about exactly how Charles needed to be woken up. And more importantly, what lucky person would get to kiss him. Seriously, Erik had never understood how Charles had only ever had one night stands at Oxford; clearly everybody else there at the time was a moron.

“Yep,” Bruce and Tony nodded. The latter added, “With some Persephone on the side!”

“Um, isn’t Hades most famous for…?” Wanda trailed off.

The next thing Erik knew, everybody else was looking at him awkwardly. Or rather, at his helmet.

“Oh no, no, no, no, no,” he told them, backing up. “Just no.”

The Avengers all exchanged looks. Jean scoffed, “Like you wouldn’t go sulk if anyone else did it. Come on, we don’t have any better ideas.”

“But this is a horrible idea!” insisted Erik, avoiding a response to Jean's first comment as she was right and they both knew it. “Charles is going to punch me in the face again!”

Interested, Clint asked, “When did he ever do that?”

Natasha elbowed him before saying, “I’m with Jean. You’re basically the only person who sees ‘Charles’ rather than the Professor. If anybody’s kiss could wake him up, it’ll be yours.”

The other Avengers all made agreeing noises.

Eyes narrowed, Erik asked, “You guys have been on the RPF part of the internet, haven’t you?”

Jean took a hold of him and did her best to pull him along. “Come on, let’s go over to the mansion.”

Erik allowed it if only because they clearly weren’t about to let this harebrained scheme go.


	4. i felt your heart, so close to mine

“This is a horrible idea,” Erik grumbled yet again as Jean dragged him down a hallway in the mansion. He had been convinced to change back into his civilian garb before Jean piloted an X-Jet north to the school. Clearly he hadn’t been the only being in the superhero subculture to check out the real hero fanfiction corners of the internet but was apparently the only one to realize the fans were delusional in thinking Charles could ever love him back.

The redhead just shoved him into Charles’ bedroom, shutting and locking the door behind him. Erik called out, “I can get past metal locks, Jean!”

“Just go kiss the professor all better!” she shouted back, presumably already walking away.

He took off his dark grey overcoat to hang on the free coat hook, the other holding up a red scarf and beanie. Very cautiously Erik approached the king size bed, in the middle of which Charles was snug under his teal blankets and had several pillows along the headboard. On Charles’ nightstand were his reading glasses, the mostly empty Brookside bag that had caused this crackpot theory, and a well-worn copy of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. His wheelchair was positioned on the other side of the bed. Sitting on the edge of the bed, Erik reached over to press two fingers against Charles’ throat. Although slow, his pulse was still there and Charles was as warm as ever.

Time for phase two. Erik leaned over and gently rubbed his nose against Charles’ for several seconds. Something happened, but Erik wasn’t sure what. Certainly Charles didn’t wake up, or even stir beyond a brief fluttering of his eyelashes. Erik deliberately lowered his mental shields- not completely, but enough to tell that yes, Charles was sound asleep.

Shifting to get a better angle, Erik gently kissed Charles’ forehead. Well, that was interesting. Charles now looked like he did back when Erik was doing jail time for that Senator Kelly fiasco. Getting up, Erik could almost feel himself having more energy and a look in the adjoining bathroom’s mirror confirmed that he looked younger as well. Erik sincerely doubted this de-aging was out of the goodness of the Enchantress’ heart but he wasn’t sure why she’d do this.

Suddenly there was a sleepy mumble from back in the bedroom. Erik darted back to Charles’ side, where the other man had indeed shifted position a bit. But he was still sleeping. Yet… yet somehow Erik’s kisses were having some effect on him.

First Erik took a deep breath. Then he leaned over and kissed Charles on the cheek. Yep, definitely another magically-induced energy surge. Although maybe Erik’s heart had just picked up the pace from finally pressing his lips on any part of Charles at long last rather than him sensing any magic.

Now Charles snuffled a bit before settling back under the covers. Now the telepath’s wrinkles had all but vanished and he generally just seemed more middle-aged than elderly. To be fair, Erik knew from their half-century of friendship that unless there was an immediate threat Charles took forever to wake up properly. Getting up, he walked over to the other side of the bed. 

Admittedly he glanced over at his reflection in the window on his way; he was regaining muscle and his hair was now a motley mix of grey and its earlier auburn hue. Once settled on the bed’s edge, Erik placed a hand on Charles’ chest. Even through the blankets, Erik swore he could feel the telepath’s heartbeat. Keeping his hand there, Erik leaned down to kiss Charles’ other cheek.

He had to blink at the change in Charles now, because he looked like he did prior to that disaster with Apocalypse. Brown hair formed almost a halo around his lovely face, although there was already a grey streak on one side (one Charles always insisted had been due to Erik’s shenanigans, not his students’). Soft, pale skin that Erik knew was freckled elsewhere and perfect for hickeys even though Erik knew he had no right to any further injury to Charles, especially those. 

Furthermore, Charles’ lips had regained that almost irresistible hue they had had when they first met. Erik was certain only the fear of getting punched and then hated forever by Charles was the only reason he had resisted the practically siren call of that mouth for kisses. Truly, it was like his mouth, especially that lower lip, was genetically engineered to be perfect for that activity. And there had been so many opportunities over the decades just to give Charles ‘shut up kisses’ that Erik had denied himself, let alone all the other kinds. The fact that Charles had a habit of licking said lips did not help either.

Charles yawned before doing the aforementioned tic. “Erik?”

Erik pretty much toppled off the bed in what he’d admit was panic. That was a more acceptable option than having been startled. When he got back up, Charles was sleepily studying him, those preternaturally blue eyes half-lidded. One arm got itself free of the blankets to reach languidly for him. Helplessly Erik sat back down by Charles’ side. Warily he reached over to (finally, incredibly, disbelievingly) run a hand through the other man’s hair, which was even softer than it looked.

“Am I dreaming?” Charles mused. “I must be…”

Erik kept fiddling with Charles’ hair, mostly out of incredulity. Erik could tell that Charles wasn’t more than half-awake, even without the drowsiness the telepath was low-key emitting at this point. It was heightening his desire to curl up next to Charles and just snuggle sleepily. The point was, the spell was weakened but definitely not broken. Erik wasn’t sure if he was more elated by idea of the action itself or terrified by the consequences of what clearly had to be done to complete the process.

“Charles?”

The younger man just nuzzled against Erik’s forearm contently.

“Charles,” Erik got out. It wasn’t a squeak. Magneto, boogeyman to HYDRA and warrior guardian of mutantkind, did not squeak. Not even when the love of his life was suddenly being affectionate towards him for the first time. After a moment to collect himself, Erik tried again. “Charles? Look, you can punch me afterwards if you want, but may I do something?”

Charles’ nose scrunched up. “Are you in jail again?”

“Um, no.” Erik had to wince at that particular memory.

Charles smiled in relief at him. Erik removed his hand from Charles’ hair to run his thumb along the smooth jawline. Evidently Charles had been in some sort of stasis, or he’d have plenty of stubble by now. Before it would have been white, but now his stubble would be reddish. Charles blearily reached up to stroke at Erik’s own stubble- he hadn’t had a razor in the morning and never got the chance to do so later. Probably it was entirely auburn, along his hair, by this time. Erik was deliberately trying not to think of reasons why the Enchantress would de-age them even partially.

Acutely aware this would be his only chance- evidently one-sided true love was enough to break the spell- Erik leaned down to gently press his lips against Charles’ as he closed his eyes. He didn’t think it was the Enchantress’ magic that made his other senses go on high alert: the smell of bergamot and chocolate, the soft, warm welcome of Charles’ lips, and his own racing heartbeat. His hands- one on each side of Charles- grabbed at the blankets to keep the kiss strictly G-rated.

Charles’ tongue shyly licked at Erik’s lower lip and Erik opened up for whatever Charles wanted. After a few minutes, Charles mewled and arched up against what he could of Erik. His telepathy wasn’t up for words in this just-awakened, half-aroused state, but Erik got the message anyway. And frankly, the half-blissful, half-aching sentiments were… interesting.

With a responding rumble, Erik properly straddled Charles. It took longer than it should have, given that Erik did not want to stop kissing Charles, but the other man didn’t seem to mind. Charles arched up again, and Erik could feel their heartbeats pounding in sync. A feedback loop was starting up between them, heightening their reactions and helping them figure out wordlessly how to best please each other. Erik’s hand decided to get tangled up in Charles’ hair without any input from Erik’s mind, not that either of them minded. Both of Charles’ hands were exploring Erik, the shoved down blankets an extra barrier shielding each other from the other’s arousal- they weren’t quite ready to move on to that yet.

Erik shifted away from Charles’ mouth to his jawline, then down and up that lovely length of throat. He used one hand to guide Charles’ head into whatever position he wanted, and the other to lace his gangly fingers with Charles’ shorter, more attractive ones. With a soft, pleased noise Charles laid his other hand on top of Erik’s. The telepath was practically radiating bliss at this point.

Kicking away the blanket, Charles wrapped those disproportionally long legs of his around Erik’s waist, making it very clear to them both where this was going.

Wait, what?


	5. no matter how lame my apology

Charles whimpered when Erik pulled away his throat, his best friend suddenly radiating shock. It made an awful sort of sense that after nearly fifty-four years of oblivious pining, he’d just get one make-out session. Except… Charles mentally played back the last several minutes. Erik had initiated the snogging, so what had changed?

Pressing closer to Erik’s wonderfully solid warmth, Charles kept one hand pressed onto the hand Erik had tangled into his hair while keeping the other intertwined with Erik’s other hand. Wait- hair?

Confused, he opened his eyes. Erik looked very astonished and very different. His hair was more floppy again rather than the fluffiness it had taken on in later years, not to mention that peculiar blend of blond, red, and brown. Officially it was auburn, but Charles swore in their youth Erik’s hair had had blond highlights in bright sunlight. Although clearly still an adult, there was an element of ‘gangly not-quite-grown wolf’ to Erik now that amused Charles.

Making a face, evidently having picked up on Charles' amusement, Erik told him, “That’ll go away in a year or so. Then I’ll be back to the dire wolf that intimidates everyone but you.”

Charles bumped his nose against Erik’s, making him flush. Next Charles tried to resume the wonderful snogging but Erik just drew back again. A slight hip thrust confirmed that Erik was still interested, so Charles just found a sensitive patch at the end of Erik’s jawline to suck on instead.

“Charles, liebling, I think we should talk before- oof.”

Smirking, Charles felt very pleased with himself for having flipped them over. He must have gotten Erik very off-balance if he was so easily man-handled. Charles laced all of his fingers into Erik’s long ones now, very interested in seeing what he could get Erik to do to him with them. He deliberately pouted, “I thought you wanted me to be more assertive.”

Erik just gulped, his usually teal-grey eyes near-black with arousal. Charles started to just lick a lot at Erik’s rough stubble, content to just lay on this youthful Erik and explore. Pressed up against Erik like this, Charles could feel his rapid heartbeat.

Jean politely tapped on the edges of Charles’ immediate awareness. 

He sat up, a bit grumpy at the interruption. _Yes, Jean?_

_Oh good, you’re awake. Everybody but Erik knew it’d work. In any case, there are now various types of dragons attacking the city. Could you two put the make-out session on pause for a bit?_

“Why are there dragons attacking New York City?” Charles demanded, at a loss.

Erik blinked. “The spell matrix advanced past snow monsters, I guess?”

What Magneto said, concurred Jean. Though just to be safe, have a discussion about feelings before leaving just so there’s no miscommunication and another half-century of pining.

Charles felt his cheeks grow warm as Jean broke off the connection so that each of them was only vaguely aware of the other telepath’s presence miles away. He bit at his lower lip, well aware (at last) of what needed to be said.

“So, am I no longer getting the silent treatment then?” came Erik’s wry query.

Now Charles felt rather warm and extremely awkward. “That, um, wasn’t the silent treatment. That was me having a mini meltdown and then going to bed in a snit at myself.”

Erik gently squeezed Charles’ hands but sounded genuinely confounded as he asked, “Why would you be upset at yourself? You’re wonderful, liebling.”

Angry, ashamed tears brimming up, Charles admitted, “Because I’m a telepath who apparently can’t read his own mind. Or heart, rather.”

Erik stilled. “Is this about Mr. Darcy? Because he’s a fictional character, Charles.”

“Not exactly,” said Charles, trying very hard not to cry. “It’s just… I realized why I have a crush on Mr. Darcy last night when I made that list for you.”

Erik let go of one of Charles’ hands to metallokinetically bring over his iPhone from his coat pocket and manually bring up the text in question. He paraphrased, “Tall, lean, snarky, overly protective, dramatic yet aloof, looks down at his inferiors, but capable of working on his flaws if they’re pointed out to him. Sounds like kind of a jerk.”

“You can be,” agreed Charles in a tremoring tone, ducking his head. This close to Erik, especially an Erik who had lowered most of his mental barriers for the moment, he could tell the exact second that he got the connection. He was ready to beg, to grovel, to apologize for being a clueless idiot, to do anything to keep Erik in his life in any capacity. Not that that was anything new, but before Charles hadn’t let on how badly he needed Erik, even to himself apparently.

“So… that’s at least a maybe to more kissing?” asked Erik cautiously. “Possibly even I could convince you to go on a date?”

“Um, Erik. We spend whole afternoons playing chess and debating, we go to meals by ourselves all the time, and you always accompany me on my Savage Land research trips. I think I might have been settling for platonic dating all this time,” Charles half spelled out, half confessed. 

Taking a deep breath, he continued, “By which I mean I think in hindsight that I fell in love with you before we had even dried off from that dunk in the Atlantic. God, I’d never seen a mind so bright, so compelling as yours. Nobody else could handle large doses of my attention, I’m too intense, too focused. Everybody else gets terrified when I start actually using my powers to their full extent- you try to goad me into it because you find them amazing.”

“Because they are,” Erik insisted quietly.

“You challenge me, and we bring out the best and worst in each other.” Before Erik could say it, Charles admitted, “Often the latter, yes, but maybe we could at least try to do more of the former? Or at least get some spectacular hate sex out of this.”

“I could never hate you, liebling.”

“You should though,” Charles got out, the tears starting to fall. “I didn’t know that I love you until last night. I thought you were my best friend, my other half, the sword to my shield, sure. The best person I had ever known and would ever know. My equal in everything and- and you know how I can’t listen to ‘Defying Gravity’ without crying?”

Erik made a confused noise that regardless indicated ‘please go on’.

“That bit where Elphaba and Glinda are all like ‘I hope you’re happy in the end’ and mean it? It just… makes me cry every time since I’m certainly not,” and Charles could feel the tears falling in earnest now. “Because at least I figured out years ago that maybe we’ll always have different ideas and methods and- and even goals when it comes to helping mutantkind… but I do want to be at your side and you at mine, even if- even if we’re actually on different ones. But I’ve always known that- of course I can’t expect you to even remotely-”

Where their fingers were still intertwined, Erik tightened his grip momentarily before letting go entirely. Hiccupping, Charles shut up as his tears kept falling. Carefully he sat up and arranged it so that Charles was now in his lap. 

Nestling Charles even closer to him, Erik told him, “Maybe sometimes you can be oblivious and rely too much on first impressions. Maybe you think you know better than everybody else simply because you’re smarter than them and can literally read their minds. Maybe your hope can be as much of a flaw as it is a virtue- but that’s okay, because you’re brilliant and resilient, more than anybody else I know. Maybe your idealism crosses into naiveté at times, but as much as I grumble… I don’t want you to ever change. You’re an unbreakable beacon of hope, and you’re adorable.”

“Adorable?” echoed Charles dubiously into Erik’s turtleneck, doing his best not to sniffle into it as well.  
“In both the modern and classic sense of the word, mein liebling” he affirmed, kissing the top of his head. “And I always have thought so about you.”

Charles thought this over as he listened to Erik’s still-rapid heartbeat, but he suspected it was now racing out of nerves rather than lust. At least his tears were dwindling. Quietly he recalled, “You called me adorable right before I first used Cerebro.”

“Even before that I thought you were.”

On the one hand, it was pretty clear Erik wasn’t going to flat-out state anything one way or the other. Which was odd, given his tendency to either be blunt or simply refuse to answer a question. On the other, actually asking ‘could you ever love me?’ would be utterly nerve-wracking.

Charles looked up, eyes still wet. This got him a long, tender kiss that curled his toes and make him feel warm and, well, loved. Erik nipped gently at his lower lip before drawing back.

“Mein anbetungswürdig liebling,” he rumbled, his eyes dark and intent. Charles could literally feel his whole body get all wobbly and pliant if only to get more German comments in that deep, focused tone that make it seem like nothing else mattered to Erik but him. With a mewl, Charles reached up to wrap his arms around Erik’s neck and pressed their lips together again.

Pretty soon Charles found himself making soft, pleased moans as the kissing kept going and intensified. Erik reached under his tee to carefully explore the small of his back. A wad of tangled emotions rose up in his consciousness until Erik batted it back down, preferring to shift his hands lower to explore even more. This induces a low moan from Charles as Erik kneaded at his ass, the sensations overwhelming.

Charles rocked forward, unsure when he had straddled Erik but equally unsure if it even mattered. He wanted Erik so much, had always known Erik was breathtakingly handsome but had suppressed the lust out of fear ruining the first truly intimate relationship he ever had… up until yesterday, anyway. Though really, Charles ought to have seen that as a clue that maybe this wasn’t just a lust thing but by then it was being Ignored and thus deemed irrelevant.

Tugging up Erik’s purple turtleneck, Charles couldn’t help but rumble in pleasure at the sight of those lean muscles. In contrast, Charles knew he was on the ‘scrawny and pasty’ side of things but somehow managed to be cute enough to at least get a few hours of sex from strangers on a regular basis back during his Oxford days.

 _Nobody else since?_ Erik inquired, clearly trying not to be possessive and failing.

Just talking with you is way better than sex with strangers, Charles admitted, totally willing to be claimed by Erik if that meant this would last. I just… I’m tired of fighting."

Erik promptly had a mental freak-out, his hands shifting to Charles’ hips. Charles once again had to acknowledge that there was a distinct possibility that Hank’s habit of putting his foot in his mouth came from him.  
Pulling back, Charles amended, “Not you, well, yes you, but that’s not what I meant then.”

He licked at his swollen lips, staring at just how much more inviting and pink Erik’s own lips looked after their make-out session. And although they hadn’t quite passed second base yet, Charles could already tell that there was a reason Erik was so confident in his masculinity. A big one. While Charles knew that despite his stature he himself was not small in that area, clearly Erik would outdo him in it… and for once he wouldn’t mind at all. Quite the opposite, really.

“Then what did you mean?” Erik asked warily.

Pulling back down Erik’s turtleneck, Charles rested his head against the other man’s shoulder. “I just found out I’ve been either terrifyingly oblivious or stubbornly in denial about the fact that I’m utterly in love with you. Either way, I’ve been fighting against a huge part of me and my life for decades. But, look, if there’s even the slightest chance I could ever convince you to stay…” 

Charles hurriedly continued when he felt Erik’s baffled shock, “Not now, I’ll wait years, decades, centuries, forever, if you’ll at least seriously consider it someday. If that’s too selfish, I could try convincing you to let me go with you. I’ve given so much time to the mutant cause, surely I can afford to be selfish now.”

Very slowly Erik said, “Charles, I left because you didn’t want me to stay. Not that I blame you, even if at that point neither of us knew that…”

Once again Erik’s hands settled at the small of Charles’ back where they were firm and protective and warm.  
Looking up at him, Charles made a face. “But… you didn’t really… why would you even… I’m not…”

“Mein liebe… you really are oblivious, aren’t you?” commented Erik bewilderedly.

Charles pouted, “You don’t need to rub it in.”

Erik rested his forehead against Charles’.

“You are my other half, mein liebste,” he told Charles earnestly. “There’s been no one else for me. How can I find a candle bright and warm when I’ve felt the sun? I knew I was in the cold and dark before that night, but never did I know the extent of what I was missing out on until I felt you in my mind, until you were brave and kind enough to drag me to the surface, to assure me I wasn’t alone. We weren’t even on the ship before I knew something was happening to me because of you, and hadn’t gotten to DC before I figured it out.”

“And?” Charles gulped, never having felt such aching hope before in his life.

“For years, it was easier for me to pretend you could have accidentally or even deliberately, though that was by far the more unlikely option, messed with my psyche than believe I was still capable of falling in love. You might have not known you loved me until yesterday, but I couldn’t even dream that you could until today. To be honest, I’m half-afraid the Enchantress is just taunting me with my most yearned for dream.”

Charles felt very warm at the depth of feeling in Erik’s eyes. It almost went past love, into- oh.

“You adore me?”

Erik kissed him softly before stating, “No question about it.”

“Oh dear god, we’ve been absolute idiots for the past half century, haven’t we?”

“You might have been. I’ve been pining and suffering from low self-worth in regards to me being viable life partner material for you.”

Charles’ scowl only lasted until Erik kissed him again, warm and, yes, adoring. Clearly Erik could never know that he had gotten it backwards- that he deserved more and better than Charles. Then again, that wasn’t fair to Erik.

“Erik?”

Erik made a distracted noise, more interested in nuzzling at Charles’ neck than listening to him.

“I’m serious, we need to talk.”

There was an irritated huff, but the grip on Charles’ ass indicated that Erik wasn’t terribly upset.

“What about now?”

“You… ought to be with somebody who isn’t a mess. I missed the memo that I love you for over half a century and most of the time we can’t compromise on mutant politics and you deserve somebody more, um, attractive than me.”

“What.”

“Well, you’re gorgeous and sexy and have that apex predator aura. A bit primal, yes, but it certainly makes me want to submit to you.”

Erik emitted an interested and smug rumble, nuzzling at Charles’ neck. “Oh really?”

His breath hitching, Charles endeavored to continue. “But I’m, well, me. Oh sure, I make- er, made, apparently somehow- bald look good, but really. I’m short, scrawny, pasty, my hair’s a mess when I have it, and my eyes are… not quite normal. I know I’m kinda cute, but well, just on a physical level you’re out of my league. Add in the psychological stuff, and well, we’re not even in the same solar system. I couldn’t have survived what you went through in your youth, or if by some miracle I did, I’d be a complete wreck for the rest of my life.”  
“I’m pretty sure I am,” Erik pointed out. “You’re the one out of my league psychologically, and also, remember what you craved enough last night to bring to bed with you?”

Charles looked over at his nightstand. “Brookside pomegranate chocolate stuff?”

“Exactly.” Erik looked a bit awkward here. “Last night, the Enchantress did a spell matrix thing that centers around fairy tales…”

“Did you wake me up via true love’s kiss?!”

“Sort of…”

Charles echoed him dubiously, mind and heart racing. He knew better than to think the Enchantress was just messing with the two of them and this certainly clarified Jean’s earlier comment about dragons. In a spell matrix, the spell-caster wouldn’t have been able to manipulate specific threads. He or she could ensure, say, there was a Little Red Riding Hood parallel but no say in who the spell deemed the best person within the spell radius to fulfill that role.

“I did an Eskimo kiss first.” Erik rubbed their noses together to demonstrate. “Then your forehead and then one on each cheek. By then you were sort of awake.”

“So I didn’t miss our first real kiss,” Charles sighed in relief. Then he got baffled. “What does my snack have to do with anything?”

“Well, it was the closest the spell matrix could get to the fruit in question, I guess. It probably didn’t hurt that my iconic item is a helmet that basically does render me invisible to telepaths.”

Charles burrowed into Erik’s shoulder. “I don’t think my students will put a generational swap Demeter…”

“Good, because we already have the out of season snowfall,” Erik said wryly.

“But you said fairy tales and Hades and Persephone is a Greek myth,” mumbled Charles. Then he remembered what more common fruit pomegranates were linked to. And he had to admit, he did have pale skin, dark hair, and reddish lips. Or had had the latter two… or just had them again. This was confusing; good, but confusing.

“Oh no, I’m Snow White?”

Erik made a happy noise, nuzzling the top of Charles’ head. “I can’t imagine that role going to anybody else.”

Charles could feel Erik’s sincerity radiating off him; since Charles now knew Erik loved him, Erik apparently figured the heavy duty mental shields weren’t necessary around him. But the more important thing was that Erik truly did think Charles was the ‘fairest of them all’, which was sweet. With a sigh, Charles tried to snuggle closer yet to Erik. Well, if they had true love together, maybe they could figure out how to have a romantic relationship instead of a frenemy one.

Then he sat up and met Erik’s gaze.

“Wait, is the Enchantress’ spell matrix still happening overall?”

“Yes?”

“And Jean mentioned dragons attacking and I cannot be that selfish as to keep snogging you when the city is under some spell matrix,” Charles apologized. Time to get in his chair, get dressed (or at least a coat, given Erik’s comment on there being snow), and go help his students.

He scrambled off his bed and then sat back down with a squeak. Very cautiously he first wiggled his toes and then moved both legs in confusion. Charles looked over at Erik, who was sprawled out and looking like there was nowhere else he’d rather be than in Charles’ bed. More pertinently, he was also hiding a grin.

“That’s another piece of evidence for you being oblivious rather than in denial.”

“You knew?” snapped Charles. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You were more interested in making out and then we ended up having a serious discussion about our feelings?”

Charles thought back. “Oh, that’s what that shock was…”

“Yes, liebling,” Erik laughed, making Charles swat at his leg. “I mean, I knew we looked younger than when we first met- your amusement made it clear it wasn’t just you- but I didn’t think of the consequences of that for a bit.”

Charles lifted up his left leg. It was both peculiar and natural to do so. “I think I’d better get a look at myself in the mirror.”

Erik lounged back, fond and amused as he promised, “I’m not going anywhere.”

Cautiously Charles walked, _walked_ , over to the adjoining bathroom. He could feel Erik watching him do so with mixed feelings: awe/shellshock/remorse/arousal. That last one was probably because of Charles’ butt, which had been his best feature in his youth and presumably was once again. Once in the bathroom, he shut the door and pulled off his tie-dyed tee, leaving on his brown pajama slacks.

He leaned on the counter as he studied his reflection. It was definitely different, being over half a century younger. Charles wasn’t sure if at this age he even had his graduate degree yet. Also, clearly shampoo was going to have to go back onto his personal shopping list. Not to mention a brush, judging by his hair’s state. But having hair again wouldn’t be as weird as adjusting to being mobile. His perspective of both rooms was off, because he wasn’t used to seeing them from this high of an angle.

Not that anybody would believe him, given his short stature. Charles made a face at himself. 

His stomach knotted as he recalled what Erik had said about this de-aging being part of the spell matrix- the Enchantress couldn’t be trusted to have done so out of the goodness of her heart. Most likely they’d go back to normal when the spell matrix was broken, so Charles would have to enjoy mobility and hair while they lasted. At least he was sure Erik was telling the truth about loving him- his mind didn’t seem any different, just more open and hopeful but both were understandable changes.

Though Charles didn’t know what would happen when (when, not if) he and Erik pursued a romantic relationship. To be sure, Erik had become less aggressive in his policies over the decades, just as Charles had grown less passive. Maybe they could find their happily ever after as long as the world (and the superhero subculture) didn’t put up too much of a fuss.


	6. i wanna kiss those lips before it's too late

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is so late, hopefully it's worth the wait.

Erik could sense Charles starting to fret in the bathroom thanks to the telepath’s slipping control, even if he couldn’t pick up on a specific topic. That usually meant Charles’ thoughts were all over the place and he was getting frazzled in general. Getting off the bed, Erik kicked off his boots. Apparently he’d been too anxious or smitten to notice they were still on before.

He pulled open the unlocked door and his mouth went slack. It was one thing to suspect that Charles Xavier was likely as gorgeous half-naked as fully dressed, but another to see it.

Due to Charles standing in front of the bathroom mirror, Erik could get a good look at his front and back at the same time. There were freckles across his shoulder blades and down his arms, a vivid contrast to his pale skin. He only had a thin trail of dark hair leading down from his belly button, the end of the path hidden by his pajama bottoms. Admittedly not as muscular as Erik, Charles was lean and mostly consisted of nearly straight lines. The major exception was his perfectly curved ass that Erik would never, ever tire of.

Obviously the biggest regret about Cuba was harming Charles and said harm changing his life forever. Well, up until today anyway. But Erik was shallow enough to admit that hiding that ass from the world was certainly a crime warranting jail time.

Erik wanted to lick Charles everywhere, from the line of his spine to those startlingly tempting nipples. Erik went up the line of Charles’ throat to admire that gorgeous face, currently flushed as those eyes- a darker blue than usual- stared at Erik from the mirror.

“Um.” Charles bit at that lower lip, somehow all the more tempting now that Erik knew exactly what it felt like against his own. For that matter, his mouth was still red and swollen from Erik’s earlier kisses. The telepath got out, “We- we should-”

Erik just let out a faux-curious rumble as he peeled off his turtleneck, using his powers to turn the handles in the shower to start getting the water warm. The yearning noise that emerged from Charles’ throat was quite gratifying.

“We should get cleaned up before heading out into the city. I’ve been on one patrol already today while you’ve been sleeping the morning away. Quite the case of bedhead you have going on.”

Charles reached up to touch that wonderfully mussed brown hair while Erik tugged off his socks.

“It’s not that bad,” he protested weakly.

“No, it’s not,” Erik conceded, walking over to him for a kiss. It would never get old, being able to show his affection towards Charles. And certainly the press of skin against skin was new this first time, but Erik had no intention of stopping there. As he nuzzled at Charles’ throat, he claimed, “We ought to share. Conserve water.”

Charles just softly moaned, arching up against him as he radiated contentment. Erik had forgotten just how slight Charles was; he was such a huge presence in his life that it was hard to remember he wasn’t tall. The wheelchair hadn’t helped with that either.

Keeping his grip on Charles’ hips, Erik carefully seated the younger man on the counter. He briefly mouthed at each nipple before he straightened up, using his power to turn on the shower properly.

“As soon as this spell is over, we’ve going down to your little research cave-lab in the Savage Land so we can have so much sex without interruption. If I tried to get you back in bed right now, we wouldn’t leave for the better part of a day.”

Charles made a pleased noise at that, sucking on Erik’s throat in response. Erik stepped back to pull off his slacks and underwear in one movement. Then suddenly Charles was on his knees before him, taking Erik’s erection into his mouth.

Erik made a strangled noise, because this certainly hadn’t been in the plan. Not that he minded, oh no. It felt so good, so warm and wet and perfect as Charles slowly took all of him in. Those big blue eyes were blissed out as Charles devoted himself to pleasing Erik.

If Charles kept this up, though, Erik would come and he wanted this to last a bit longer than that. He tugged gently at Charles’ hair, which only made his eyes flutter shut and his pleased rumble vibrate over to Erik, making his knees a bit wobbly.

_Charles, we need to shower._

With a whine, the telepath pulled back. Erik felt so aroused he was dizzy with it, but his priority was to make Charles feel good, not himself. He pulled back the shower curtain and went to stand under the warm water. Within seconds, a naked Charles was in there with him.

Erik started to explore Charles’ upper body with his hands, overwhelmed that he was having sex with Charles for the very first time. Maybe it could have been more romantic, but they couldn’t risk staying in bed all day when the Enchantress’ spell matrix was still going on and Erik would have not been happy if he hadn’t gotten to touch Charles before leaving the mansion.

_Like I would have been?_ scoffed Charles as he nipped at Erik’s collarbone. More ruefully he continued, _I do have a habit of putting duty before what I want._

“Oh?” Erik squeezed at that perfect ass, making Charles moan. Drenched, Charles was oh so tempting and all Erik’s. He sucked hard on Charles’ throat at the thought before he realized what he was doing, pulling back in shame. “I’m so sorry, liebling-”

Charles blinked up at him with a shyly pleased smile. _I won’t mind hickeys from you, Erik._

_Are you sure?_ Erik frowned, his hands finding that now unscarred spot on Charles’ lower back yet again.

Nodding, Charles wrapped a hand around Erik’s dick and rubbed it appreciatively. Well, it was hard to think about anything but Charles when he did that, so Erik went back to sucking and nipping at Charles’ throat, enjoying the ecstatic noises he got in response.

Erik decided to return the favor and wrapped a hand around Charles’ own dick, which was as appealing as the rest of him. Charles made even more noises as Erik figured out what the telepath liked, his hand growing slack on Erik’s dick. Not that Erik minded- just the warmth of Charles right there was enough to keep him happy.

His breath hitching, Charles orgasmed. Erik could feel how good he had made the telepath feel, which made him smirk. While the telepath was boneless with pleasure, Erik got him to face the far wall, sheltering him from the cooling spray. Aware they lacked the time for anything more extensive, Erik rubbed his dick up against the cleft of Charles’ perfect ass a few times. That was enough to make him come and nestle up against his liebe.

He started to nuzzle at that wet brown hair, his hands still firmly on Charles’ hips. At least the water was still warm.

_We really should go,_ Charles observed wistfully, but made no movement to do so.

Erik grabbed the body wash and the washcloth so he could clean off Charles. Given how he himself had showered that morning, he probably didn’t need a full-on cleaning yet, just a rinse. Charles just smiled fondly at him, his eyes still dark and dreamy while his cheeks were appealingly flushed, as Erik washed the other man’s upper body and sat down willingly on the built-in seat when Erik nudged him. Their connection had quieted down, but Erik could still pick up on Charles’ happiness.

Getting down on his knees, Erik cleaned Charles’ lower half and even licked at his lax dick. He didn’t have any experience before today, but he was sure in time he’d figure out blowjobs. Hopefully Charles would be patient with him until then.

_Of course I will be._

Erik certainly didn’t mind that possessive aura coming off of Charles at the thought of being Erik’s first and _only_. Standing back up, Erik turned off the spray and then the water. He told the brunet, “Come on, let’s dry off, get dressed, and then go help out your ducklings.”

“They’re not ducklings, they’re my students,” Charles did the familiar retort as he got up. With an affectionate smile, Erik got out of the bathroom and handed over a towel to Charles. Luckily there was a linen closet in the corner that held the spare towels, so Erik used one of those before getting back into his clothes, which now smelled partially of Charles and arousal.

Naked, Charles headed into his bedroom to go through his closet. Erik leaned against the doorway, slightly wistful at the concealment of Charles’ fair, freckled skin as the other man pulled on briefs, socks, and an undershirt. Next came a light blue button-down and black slacks. Over that went a dark blue cardigan and a pair of black fingerless gloves. 

After that, there was scarcely any visible skin compared to before. Erik had a sneaking suspicion he was already growing spoiled about having utterly complete access to Charles. To be fair, he had always craved more with Charles- more time, more chess, more smiles, more talking. He had often taken more arguing, accepting it was the most he deserved from the adorable telepath. Now he just had a far wider expanse of options to want.

“I don’t have any winter boots,” frowned Charles as he wiggled his socked toes, thankfully oblivious to Erik’s yearnings. “I haven’t needed them in decades.”  
“Maybe grab regular boots from the guys’ locker room?”

“Good idea,” he beamed as he held out his hand. “Come on, let’s go.”

Erik put his coat back on before adding the red beanie and scarf to Charles’ outfit. He knew the other man got cold easily. Charles’ smile shifted into something fonder but no less bright.

Hand in hand, they headed out of the bedroom and down several hallways (and a flight of stairs that Charles struggled with) to the guys’ locker room where the male X-men changed in and out of their uniforms. There was an area devoted to clean spare uniforms, as many of them got dirty or flat-out ruined on missions. It took a bit, but Charles found a pair of black boots that fit him.

Grabbing the ends of the scarf, Erik reeled him in for a kiss, trying very hard not to think of how the last mission they went on together ended. Charles kissed him back, radiating pleasure.

When the kiss ended, the telepath assured him, “I’ll be fine and so will you. We’re unstoppable together.”

Erik had to smile at that. “I’ve known that all along. Glad to see you finally caught up, then.”

Charles rolled his eyes but didn’t protest the sentiment. “Come on, let’s figure out how exactly to join the fight in the city.”

“Aren’t there any X-Jets left or did they all get used for transport?”

“Let’s go find out,” Charles shrugged, interlacing their fingers.


End file.
